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Tivo 3.0 'Firebolt' Hits the Wild

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the good-luck-the-first-round dept.

James Evans writes "Tivo is rolling out version 3.0 of their software, including Ethernet drivers as well as the ability to download program data directly from a cable broadcast without using the phone line." My guess is it'll be awhile before everyone gets it since these things come in waves.

7 of 272 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Whats the general opinion on tivo? by amuro98 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Check out Tivo's privacy policy on their website. Tivo is very upfront about what sorts of information they collect from your Tivo unit - and also give instructions on how you can disable this if you wish.

    Tivo only collects aggregate data, meaning they can say 10 customers in an area (zip code) watched a TV show last night, but not WHICH 10.

  2. Re:I'm a bit confused by this... by rogueuk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    From the article:
    "For the hacker community, Firebolt includes ethernet drivers, allowing TiVo to download programming data from the Internet using a special backdoor key."

    So right now, the capability is being built in for ethernet but it's not offical yet.
    The FAQ on Tivo's site also talks about future broadband capabilities. Since the new series2 has USB ports, I wouldn't be surprised if they come out with official USB ethernet support.

  3. Re:anyone know ware i can get a tivo by kevdog · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yea, tivo is moving over to the Series II platform. The new boxes are at some best buys right now, and I think all of them should have it within a week or so. You can also buy the series II tivos (the 40 hour at&t one, or the 60 hour one) from http://www.tivo.com

  4. well that explains by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The TiVo broadcasts I have been seeing on local cable channels at 2 am
    a screen full of vertical blanking interval data with TIVO broadcast in the center of the screen and a "please excuse us this is a Tivo broadcast" voice over with corney music running in the background.

    Cool.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  5. Can anybody read the schedule data? by Animats · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Can anyone read the broadcast TV schedule data? That would be a useful data source to have freely available. Open-source PVRs could use it, for example.

    Is it encrypted?

    The guide data probably isn't copyrightable. Phone directory data isn't copyrightable, nor are databases of facts. ("The standard of originality for copyright is low, but it exists." - U.S. Supreme Court)The formatted data may be copyrightable, but you probably want to get it out of TiVo's format into something more useful anyway.

  6. Re:Onboard ethernet controller - who cares. . . by rudedog · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My 9th tee controller works with 2.5. I'm running 2.5.1-01-1-000 and haven't had my tivo plugged into the phone jack for months. Plus, I can telnet to it and copy mpegs from it, so it's obviously working.

  7. Re:Build your own by CMiYC · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I agree with you.

    I'd also like to add that its cost effective for me to spend $12/mo to let TiVo get the guide and take care of itself. Sure someone might say the data is free (from some easily obtainable resource which I have yet to see someone mention) and that you could write/download the software to handle it all. Of course, $12 equals about 15 minutes of my time. So I can either spend $12 or 2-4 hours a month dicking around with a computer sitting in my living room that lets me watch TV.

    I'd rather just spend the $12 and know there is a 1-800 number I can call when something goes wrong.